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Criminal complaint filed against AKP deputy who said 'choke the doctors'

The Hekim Birliği (Physicians' Union), a health and social services workers' union, has filed a criminal complaint with the Kırklareli Chief Public Prosecutor's Office against AKP Kırklareli Deputy Ahmet Gökhan Sarıçam, alleging that he incited violence against healthcare workers. The deputy's remarks are accused of threatening and encouraging violence against medical staff.

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The Hekim Birliği, a health and social services workers' union, announced that they have filed a criminal complaint with the Kırklareli Chief Public Prosecutor's Office against AKP Kırklareli Deputy Ahmet Gökhan Sarıçam due to his remarks: "Go, grab the healthcare personnel by the throat. I will even provoke you by saying, 'I have done my part as the state, they are the ones not providing the service.'"

In a statement made on the Hekim Birliği's X account, it was stated: "We have filed a criminal complaint against the deputy who encourages violence against physicians. It is unacceptable for a deputy to make remarks that openly incite the public to violence against physicians and healthcare workers. During a speech at the opening ceremony of the Kırklareli Pınarhisar 5-Physician Family Health Center and Provincial Health Services Station building, the deputy targeted the services provided by physicians and healthcare workers, using expressions such as 'If there is dissatisfaction, choke the doctors, grab them, choke them.' These words contain a clear threat and a call to violence aimed at inciting the public against healthcare workers."


Pointing to healthcare workers killed on duty over the last 20 years, the statement included the following: "A legal process has been initiated in response to these words, which incite the public to hatred and hostility, encourage violence against healthcare workers, and contain threats. Violence against healthcare workers in our country has reached a maximum level over the last 20 years. Dr. Göksel Kalaycı (2005), Dr. Ali Menekşe (2008), Dr. Ersin Arslan (2010), Dr. Kamil Furtun (2015), and Dr. Fikret Hacıosman (2018) were murdered by patients and their relatives. While we carry the pain of our losses in our hearts as if it were yesterday, we do not accept the inflammatory remarks regarding violence in healthcare from one of the 600 deputies in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, who should be working to prevent such violence."